Indiana Walleye

Sauger information

An on going study...please come back often as we will be updateing this page. Alot or most of the information is gathered from our Indiana DNR.

We have walleye, sauger & a hybrid = saugeye(female walleye X male sauger)

“Sauger” means the species Stizostedion canadense.

If your looking for sauger....

Biologists are working to establish a self sustaining sauger populations in the East and West Forks of the White River. Sauger are popular members of the perch family of fishes, along with walleye, yellow perch and many species of darters. They are native to some of Indiana’s larger rivers. The E.F. White River was stocked with sauger fingerlings six consecutive years, 1995-2000. Following the devastating fish kill on the W.F. White River in 1999, the first of three planned sauger stockings was completed in June 2002. Some sampling has already been done and more is scheduled to evaluate these stockings. Again, the goal is to restore naturally reproducing sauger populations in two rivers.

http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/fish/fishing/wae.pdf

Fork of the White River. The DNR has been reintroducing sauger above the Williams Dam since 1995. Sauger are one of Indiana’s tastiest and most abundant native game fish. Southern Indiana river anglers usually catch these camouflaged members of the perch family as they congregate

below dams on winter spawning runs. Sauger are native to the East Fork of the White River, but for some unknown reason, they disappeared at some point from the 110-mile stretch of river above William’s Dam, near Bedford, Ind. The East Fork of the White River begins at Columbus, Ind., and flows approximately 190 miles south and west through Indiana. It joins the West Fork of the White River to form the White River near Petersburg in Pike County. During fish surveys in

the early ‘90s, sauger were found below Williams Dam, but no sauger were found upstream of the dam. DNR biologists decided to reintroduce sauger to the upper stretch of the river because they are sought-after sport fish, the habitat was appropriate, and because sauger serve as host for larvae of several native mussel species. The area for the reintroduction was the upper 24-mile stretch of river between the lowhead dam at Columbus and the lowhead dam at Rockford on the north side of

Seymour. In order to maintain genetic integrity, sauger broodstock were collected from below Williams Dam. Cikana State Fish Hatchery developed techniques to spawn the fish, hatch the eggs and rear the fingerlings. The first sauger fingerlings were released into the river below the Columbus Dam in June 1995. Approximately 150,000 fingerlings have been stocked into the study area since 1995. Electrofishing surveys in 1998 between Columbus and Seymour found three fish from the 1996 stocking. The number of sauger collected in 1999 increased seven fold, and included sauger stocked in 1996, 1998 and 1999. The largest sauger collected last year were 18-

inches long. An angler fishing for smallmouth bass below the Columbus dam in 1998 was the first to report catching a sauger. Others have reported catching sauger immediately below the dam at

Rockford as well as three miles below Rockford near State Road 258. Sauger up to 19.5 inches long have been caught by anglers below the Columbus and Seymour dams. Sauger have also moved around the dam at Columbus. Anglers reported catching sauger in the Driftwood

River a few miles above the dam. One sauger swam upstream through the

Driftwood River into Sugar Creek and was caught east of Franklin, about 40 river miles upstream of Columbus. All sauger for this reintroduction effort have now been stocked. Fingerling survival appears to be good and the sauger population should sustain itself. Electrofishing surveys for young-ofthe-year sauger will continue in 2001 and 2002. Young fish indicate natural reproduction and a successful reintroduction project. 

Fisheries biologist Brian Schoenung displays a sauger caught below Williams Dam in the in the East Fork of the White River. The DNR has been reintroducing sauger above the Williams Dam since 1995.

For more information about Indiana’s fisheries programs, call (317) 232-4080. Information about the Division of Fish and Wildlife is available on the web at www.dnr.state.in.us/fishwild/index.htm.

Where are they?    Ohio river, 10 daily bag limit or 20 possession limit.